Chapter 489: An Annoyed Perona; What Kind of Riddle Is Meiser Playing At?

Chapter 489: Chapter 489: An Annoyed Perona; What Kind of Riddle Is Meiser Playing At?

"I see," Franky said, rubbing his chin. "So that is your plan."

In that case, as long as the plan proceeded smoothly, they could successfully deal with Kaido’s business partner.

By doing so... they would be able to weaken Kaido’s power.

This was indeed a good thing for them.

Meiser looked at Law thoughtfully before speaking. "Does that Doflamingo have a grudge against you?"

Law froze for a moment upon hearing this, then looked at Meiser with some surprise. "Why do you say that?"

Had he shown it somehow?

He hadn’t...

"Isn’t it obvious?" Meiser said. "Don’t forget, I went to the S.A.D. Production Room with you, and we dealt with Vergo together."

"Combined with your unusual reactions along the way..."

Although Meiser didn’t finish his sentence, everyone understood his meaning.

He had seen through the hidden motives Law was harboring.

Law fell silent for a moment, then said with some helplessness, "Sunglasses-ya, your observation skills are quite sharp." ℯℯ𝑙.

At those words, Meiser immediately smirked.

"Isn’t that a given?"

Law nodded, and then, rather than dwelling on it, he openly admitted his thoughts.

"I do indeed have a grudge against Doflamingo," Law said.

"It really is true!"

Usopp glanced at Meiser in shock. He had originally thought Meiser was just bluffing Law, but it turned out to be the case?

"Yes."

Law’s eyes turned cold as he said, "Doflamingo killed someone who was most important to me, so I must take him down."

To avenge Corazon, he had been working hard all these years!

And now was the time to act!

"You didn’t use us as pawns, did you?" Zoro said, his brow furrowed as he looked at Law.

The more he heard, the more it sounded that way.

Nico Robin stared at Law with deep, searching eyes, as if trying to see through something.

However, faced with the Straw Hat Pirates’ suspicion, Law remained completely open.

"I admit, I did have the idea of using your strength to put pressure on Doflamingo, but... I never thought of using you as pawns."

"After all, from the very beginning, I planned to be the one to deal with Doflamingo!"

"All you were supposed to do was secretly go and destroy the factory."

On this point, he wasn’t lying.

He knew the Straw Hat Pirates weren’t fools; they wouldn’t help him deal with Doflamingo for no reason. Therefore, he had never intended for them to handle Doflamingo.

Zoro fell silent for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully, saying nothing more.

Luffy, however, patted Law on the shoulder with some dissatisfaction and said, "Aren’t you being a bit too much of a stranger?"

"Hmm?"

A trace of confusion appeared in Law’s eyes. What did he mean, a stranger?

"If we’re going to deal with Doflamingo, you should have just told me from the start," Luffy said, grinning at Law. "I’ll help you beat him up."

Law looked at Luffy blankly, clearly not expecting this man to say such a thing.

Help him beat up Doflamingo?

Was he serious?!

At that moment, Law remembered what Usopp and Sanji had once told him.

[Luffy’s understanding of an alliance is a bit different from others!]

[How is it different?]

[It’s more like being friends...]

Friends...

Did Straw Hat-ya really consider him a friend?

At the thought, Law’s heart jolted.

Hey, hey, hey!

Was he serious?

This guy actually...

"Hey, Luffy!"

Usopp looked at Luffy, dumbfounded. "Do you even know what you’re saying?"

What did he mean, he should have been told from the start?

This kind of thing obviously had no benefit for the Straw Hat Pirates!

Besides... Law was indeed suspected of using them as pawns!

Although Law had explained himself, Usopp was still a bit unwilling to believe his words.

He always felt this guy was still hiding something.

"I know," Luffy said, looking at Usopp. "But since we’re planning to use Doflamingo to deal with Kaido, we’re bound to come into conflict with Doflamingo anyway."

Usopp froze. Was that how it worked?

Uh... thinking about it carefully, it did seem that way.

But... why did it still feel like something wasn’t quite right?

"What Luffy said is actually correct," Meiser spoke up. "Don’t forget, we’ve already kidnapped Caesar!"

Seeing everyone turn their attention to him, Meiser continued, "So... we are already in a state of hostility with Doflamingo."

Since they were enemies, they would cross paths sooner or later, so Luffy’s words weren’t wrong.

"It seems... that really is the case," Brook said.

From the moment they kidnapped Caesar, it seemed there was no turning back.

"Oh!"

"I get it now."

Perona glanced at Law and said, "No wonder you said ’if you want to back out, now’s the time’ earlier. So that was why."

Now she understood why Law had said those things. After all that, there really was no chance for regret!

"That’s why I said it."

Law lowered his head slightly, hiding his expression under his hat, and said, "If you wanted to back out, it could only have been before we caught Caesar."

"But now... there is no turning back."

The plan had already progressed to this point; there was no way to cancel it. They could only keep moving forward.

Otherwise... what awaited them was utter ruin!

"Since Luffy doesn’t mind anymore, we won’t say anything else, but..." Sanji blew out a puff of smoke and said, "I hope you’ll be more honest from now on, or else..."

As he finished, Sanji’s eyes flickered slightly, clearly conveying a message to Law.

If you aren’t honest in the future, don’t blame us for not playing along with you.

"My apologies," Law said. "I will lay out the entire plan."

He admitted he had kept secrets out of a bit of selfishness; after all, he was afraid the Straw Hat Pirates would fear Doflamingo and abandon the plan.

But... since they had reached a final cooperation, there was no need for him to keep the rest of the plan hidden. He would tell them everything!

Sanji nodded and said nothing more.

"Then shouldn’t we formulate some kind of battle plan or something?" Perona asked.

This time, no one spoke. Instead, they all turned their gaze toward Law, wanting to see if he had anything to say.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Law spoke. "Like I said just now, your Straw Hat Pirates don’t need to directly clash with Doflamingo’s Donquixote Family."

"Explain in detail," Nami said.

Although this was a good thing for the Straw Hat Pirates, not clashing felt a bit unrealistic. After all... he was one of the Warlords!

"To put it simply, I plan to use myself and Caesar to lure Doflamingo away from Dressrosa," Law said with a serious face. "As I said, as long as Doflamingo is willing to strike a deal with me, you’ll have a chance to secretly infiltrate Dressrosa and destroy the factory!"

"As long as the factory is destroyed, our goal for this mission will be achieved."

"After that, we just need to find a way to successfully withdraw from Dressrosa."

And that was the plan he intended to execute this time!

As long as it was executed perfectly, what awaited Doflamingo was utter ruin!

"But that’s not right either," Merry said, confused. "Then who’s going to deal with Doflamingo?"

"Didn’t I just say it?" Law looked at the little girl with some helplessness. "Once Doflamingo loses his ability to produce Artificial Devil Fruits and his title as a Warlord, he will be hunted by Kaido and the Marine Admirals."

"When that time comes, we won’t even need to lift a finger—he’ll be dead!"

And that was the strongest killing blow in his plan!

Kill Doflamingo personally?

It would be great if he could, but it didn’t matter if he couldn’t. With the Marines and Kaido there, Doflamingo would die sooner or later!

Hearing Law’s words, the expressions on Zoro and the others’ faces softened considerably.

However, out of caution, they didn’t completely believe Law yet, intending to see if things followed his words.

"So you really plan to make a deal with Doflamingo later?" Meiser asked.

As he spoke, he glanced at Caesar, whom he had knocked unconscious.

The meaning was clear: did he really intend to return this bastard to Doflamingo?

"Of course not."

A cold smile appeared on Law’s face. "While I will take Caesar to meet with Doflamingo, I... won’t be giving Caesar back to him in one piece!"

"In one piece..."

As if understanding something, Meiser suddenly looked enlightened. "I see, I understand."

"Then explain it to us!"

Perona gave Meiser’s shoulder an annoyed nudge. What kind of riddle was this bastard playing at?

"Right, you guys probably haven’t seen what Law can do, so it’s normal not to know."

After a pause, Meiser continued, "Law can pull someone’s heart out without killing them."

At these words, Chopper immediately looked terrified.

Pulling a heart out?

Wasn’t that a bit too scary?

"The ability of the Op-Op Fruit," Nico Robin said.

In that case... the hearts of the pirates Law turned over to the Marines to become a Warlord must have been obtained this way.

"Yes, exactly," Meiser nodded. "That way, as long as he takes Caesar’s heart out in advance, it means he holds the power of life and death over Caesar!"

"Even if he returns Caesar to Doflamingo, Caesar will still die."

And Doflamingo, having completely lost Caesar, would also face the dual pressure of the Marines and a Four Emperors!

By then, Doflamingo would be as good as dead.

After hearing Meiser’s explanation, everyone finally understood why Law was doing that.

"I didn’t think you were such a bad guy," Nami said.

Law: "..."

What did she mean by ’bad guy’?

This was just one part of a battle plan!

Besides, they were all pirates—what was there to talk about being ’bad’ or not?

Oh, right, the Straw Hat Pirates were a rather special bunch, so it was normal for them to say such things.

Recalling the Straw Hat Pirates’ actions on Punk Hazard, Law fell completely silent.

Although cooperating with these guys was reassuring, they really didn’t seem like pirates.

Shaking his head inwardly, Law spoke. "To deal with someone like Doflamingo, one must naturally use special methods."

"Well, that makes sense," Nami nodded.

Although she didn’t know what kind of grudge Doflamingo and Law shared, since he was an enemy, there was no need to be polite.

"So you ultimately plan to kill Caesar, right?" Chopper asked.

"I certainly don’t intend to let him go," Law said.

Only if Caesar was completely dead could he make Doflamingo lose his bargaining chip with Kaido.

Therefore... Caesar had to die!

Chopper fell silent for a moment, then walked toward Caesar without a word.

Seeing this, Law froze, then frowned. "Do you still want to spare his life?"

"If this guy lives, it will be very dang—"

"No, that’s not it."

Chopper said without looking back, "In my eyes, this guy is a piece of scum who would experiment on children, so I don’t care if he lives or dies."

Ultimately, Caesar was just an irredeemable piece of scum, so he didn’t care about the man’s life.

Or rather, it would be better if scum like him died!

At least that would make the seas much more peaceful!

"Then what are you doing—"

"Oh, I plan to give this guy a proper treatment first." Chopper took out his tools. "To keep him from dying before the plan even starts."

After a pause, Chopper continued, "Anyway... I’ll heal him. As for whether to finish him off later, that’s up to you."

With that, Chopper said no more and began busying himself around Caesar with his tools.

Then, he gave Meiser a slightly dissatisfied look. Had this guy struck him a bit too hard?

From the marks on Caesar’s back, that one blow had almost killed him!

Seeing this, Meiser instinctively rubbed his nose. That strike earlier had indeed been a bit heavy.

With a light cough, Meiser said, "Don’t worry, this guy won’t die."

He was still confident in that; after all... he was a ninja who excelled in assassination techniques!

So he knew exactly how much Life Force wouldn’t kill a person.

"I know, otherwise I wouldn’t bother treating him," Chopper said.

After speaking, he looked away and continued his work.

As a doctor, it was his duty to save the injured.

As for whether Caesar would be killed once he was better... that had nothing to do with him!

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